S. turned with his confidant Z. into
the animated Schottengasse in the city of V. Both walked silently for a while,
side-by-side. You could see from their faces that the two of them were preoccupied
with something extremely close to their hearts. Z.’s face, however, serenely
radiated joy, whereas S.’s traits became progressively sombre and serious. Z. then
spoke the following words: “You can scarcely imagine how happy you’ve made me
today, on account of your good mood and the cheerfulness that you have displayed
the whole day; I never thought that I could occasion this kind of mood in you. You
have also never been so unreservedly in agreement with one of my actions.” S.
appeared not to have heard a single word, for he did not reply. In order to
coax an answer out of him, Z. directly posed a question: “Do you think I should
tell my close friend in my distant homeland about my current experiences?” S.
still seemed as though he were absent. “Why are you so quiet all of a sudden,
especially after having been so sincerely happy the entire day?” S. broke his
silence and said: “We passed an enjoyable evening. You, my dear friend, have
now met a young woman whose unassuming nature has rightfully captivated your
spirit. Her indescribable kindness is capable of bringing your spiritual forces
into the most beautiful harmony, and her glorious beauty ought to engender in
you a reverential inclination towards a divine form. It was an enchanting sight
for me to see how devoted you were to her tonight, as I – the third person in
your delightful company – saw how blissful you were in her presence. However, as
we were saying goodbye to her and I extended my hand in parting, a beam of
light from the street light suddenly fell on my fingers. My eye caught sight of
the ring on my hand, and this ring – I assure you – is a magic ring. At certain
moments of my life it continually conjures forth things of which you cannot
have any idea.” Z. replied: “There are always magic rings in fairy tales,
surely you do not want to make a new version out of an old story of this kind.”
– “Yes, rings are ancient magical objects. That’s what I also said when I first
received the ring in an altogether miraculous place.” Z. answered: “Well, then
it’s finally time I heard the story of your enchanted ring.”

S. began to speak: “I had
just had a few years under my belt, where I was preparing my spirit for
something higher, living in earnest expectation of the time when I was to be initiated
into the deeper secrets of science. Then it abruptly happened. I was walking
along the street without any particular purpose, and without thinking of
anything significant. A wondrous vehicle appeared behind me, moving at great
speed. It was drawn by horses of such beauty that it is simply impossible to
picture them if you’ve only seen earthly horses. The carriage was as light as a
feather and beautifully furnished. The goddess Fortuna was seated in it with a
shining countenance. She beckoned to me, intimating that I should sit down next
to her. I was unable to resist. We then travelled through provinces that were
initially desolate and empty, before passing through regions filled with the
most magnificent things. Our vehicle started to slow down in a plain in which
there was nothing to see for miles on end, except a tiny cottage. We drew
closer and closer to the small cottage, and I soon realised that this was our
destination. As we stopped my heavenly driver said to me: this is one of my
best homes, ring the bell, I have prepared everything for you.

As I fully came to my
senses, the goddess and her vehicle had already vanished and there was nothing
left for me to do but to anxiously ring the doorbell. The mysterious door opened
and a tender young girl appeared. Before I could utter a word, she said: “Everything
is ready for you here, I will lead you to my mistress. However, let me warn you,
the appearance of my mistress might be shocking to you at first, but try to
overcome your aversion. After preparing me in this manner she led me through a
side door into her lady’s chamber. Sitting in an arm-chair was a woman with an
incredibly ashen face, the likes of which I have never seen on earth. It was a
deeply moving scene – the entire being of the woman betrayed a youth in which
every trait of her face expressed but a single word: profound suffering. Her bleak
eyes, furrowed brow, and indescribably contorted mouth, ready at any moment to
break forth into sighs and laments. All of this presented such a graphic image
to me, powerfully seizing the forces of my spirit, and I would not have been able
to speak had not this sight been preceded by so many other wondrous ones. On
catching sight of me the woman placed her hands on my shoulders, and spoke the
following heartfelt words to me: “This cottage in which you now find yourself is
the one I have chosen for myself. I must live extremely far from the whole
world, because I have suffered so much there and can no longer look upon it. Here
I mourn and lament my former happiness. Apart from my servant girl, no one else
lives here except my dear lovely little daughter. I myself have renounced all earthly
joy and earthly life. However, she should not do that. I cannot allow my
daughter to leave me for the time being, because her hour has not yet come. She
should receive here the best and most beautiful spiritual treasures that the
earth can offer. I have chosen you to teach her these things. I hope you will
fulfil your task.

After these words, she
took me by the hand and led me into the room of the young girl. She introduced
me to her, and left us after a few further instructions. The lessons were to
begin at once. But as the first lesson began I noticed that the earlier
astonishing events had robbed me of my entire memory. I did not know a thing,
and so began my first lesson in the most embarrassing fashion. All of a sudden,
however, the lesson went excellently, and I easily explained a world to the
girl the nature of which I myself had never learned, or even had the slightest
idea. The girl was enthusiastic about the elevated content of my instruction
and attentively listened to my words in the most indescribable manner. What was
the origin of this miraculous knowledge that I now suddenly possessed? Oh! I was
reading the entire text in those loving eyes that were so intensely directed at
me, they furnished me with everything, and I only needed to present it back to
the girl. The mother had infinite trust in me, and I spent the most wonderful
time there.

A year after my arrival
at that extraordinary place, the lady of the house sought me out. With a
thoroughly serious demeanour, she spoke the following words to me: “The time has
come, we have to take leave of one another. The goddess who brought you here
will return in a few moments to pick you up. Very soon my daughter will be
placed back into the world, in order to live again with people. I cannot give
you anything else, except this magic ring. I do not know its effects, but I
have to give it to you for reasons unknown to me. In any event, the goddess
Fortuna will be able to explain its significance to you.” The doors immediately
opened, and the goddess appeared, tearing me from that exalted happiness. I got
into the carriage that had brought me there one year previously, and once again
I had to travel through the same regions that I had earlier traversed. I barely
exchanged further words with the goddess, and had to put the question to her myself
about the significance of the ring. The goddess knew all about it. “The ring”,
she said, “will have the wonderful effect on you, that you will never be able
to think of any female being without remembering the girl that you have just
become acquainted with. It will help you to find her again, when within the
workings of the world, the friend is in need.” Her words became fulfilled. The
parting words of the suffering lady: “My daughter will soon be placed back into
the life of the world” continue to deeply reverberate within me. Now that I too
have left that magic realm, and have been placed back into this world, my
longing is directed towards that being, who also has to return here. My wish is
to encounter her again somewhere, in order to save and protect her with my
devoted love.

Afterword: Rudolf Steiner’s
Early Enigmatic Tale

David W. Wood

Rudolf Steiner published the fairy tale “Der Ring” (The Ring) in August 1884, when he was twenty-three years old.[1] Forgotten for almost
130 years, the tale was never reprinted or included in any subsequent German
edition of Steiner’s writings, only becoming rediscovered in a Budapest library
archive in 2011.[2]
It is translated and made publicly available here for the first time since
1884.

The tale originally appeared in two instalments of the weekly
Siebenbürgen or Transylvanian newspaper, the Carlsburger Wochenschrift.[3] The town of Carlsburg (Karlsburg,
Alba Iulia), the place in whose newspaper the fairy tale appeared, is a town in
the Siebenbürgen region of Romania. In the 1880s Siebenbürgen had a significant
German-speaking population, which had emigrated there from Germany in the 12th
century. In his autobiography, The Course of My Life, Rudolf Steiner
recounts how he personally visited Hermannstadt (Sibiu) in Siebenbürgen in
1889, with his friend Moritz Zitter as his guide.

This 1884 fairy-tale is not the first text ever published by Steiner,
but certainly among his earliest extant writings. More significantly, however, it
seems to be the first-ever published artistic work by Rudolf Steiner. The
first published writings of Steiner were several essays from the years 1882/1883.
As Steiner himself relates in his long 1913 autobiographical lecture, the first
essays he ever wrote for publication were around 1882 on Goethe’s Theory of
Color, but only later made it into print with the help of Karl Julius
Schroër.[4]
These were then followed by four essays: “Lessing”, “Hermann Hettner”, “Auf der
Höhe”, and “Parallels between Shakespeare and Goethe”, all four of which now
appear to be lost.

Alongside this essayistic work in the years 1882 and 1883, Steiner
was working on his introduction and commentary to the first volume of Goethe’s
Natural Scientific Writings. He had received the commission from Joseph
Kürschner in September 1882, the first volume was finished a year later, and
then published in March 1884. This first volume also contained an introduction
by Karl Julius Schröer, dated August 1883, in which he briefly introduced
Steiner to the scholarly world.[5]
In addition, in June 1884 a summary of some of Steiner’s thoughts on Goethe
appeared in the newspaper Deutsche Zeitungunder the title: “Goethes Recht in der Naturwissenschaft.
Eine Rettung”.[6]From Steiner’s writings
and letters, one can see that around the period 1882-1884 he was above all
active with his Goethe scientific studies, as well as with philosophical works
and literature.

There is no doubt that Rudolf Steiner’s August 1884 fairy tale “The
Ring” is a highly enigmatic piece of writing, and could even be called an
esoteric tale. How can or should we try to interpret it?

The story begins in the evening in the earthly realm, with two
friends walking along and discussing in a street – the Schottengasse – in the
city of ‘V’ – i.e. Vienna (‘W’ in the German text, for: Wien). These friends
are designated by the initials ‘S’ and ‘Z.’ Rudolf Steiner seems to be openly
hidden behind the ‘S’ and his close friend Moritz Zitter behind ‘Z.’ Just after
the appearance of this fairy tale, Steiner wrote and published in November 1884
an essay – “Ein freier Blick in die Gegenwart” (A Free Glance at the Present
Time) in another Siebenbürgen publication, the Deutsche Lesehalle für alle
Stände, which had succeeded the Carlsburger Wochenschrift, and was
edited by Moritz Zitter.[7]

After beginning in the terrestrial sphere of a Vienna street and a
conversation about love, devotedness and happiness, the tale then proceeds to
relate how one of the two friends came to possess a magic ring that makes him
remember a young girl he had met and tutored in a small isolated cottage, after
being whisked there in the heavenly carriage of the Goddess Fortuna. The
appearance of this celestial horse-drawn carriage had also occurred while the
protagonist was walking along the street. The young girl in this cottage has a
mother who has renounced all earthly life, in a manner similar to the Buddha,
and it is from this mother that he receives the magic ring. Her incessant
worries about her daughter furthermore recall Mother Demeter’s constant laments
for her daughter Persephone, in stories connected with the “Mothers” of the Greek
Eleusinian mysteries. As is well-known, Persephone periodically alternates
between the upper and lower worlds, and we are told that this young woman too –
after being tutored at home for a year by the young man – is soon to return to
the earth.

Like the eternal feminine of Goethe’s Faust, and the figure
of Lily in Goethe’s Fairy-Tale, the love for this young woman
continually uplifts and draws ‘S’ on to encounter her again. Goethe’s Fairy-Tale
concludes with the building of a new temple, and accordingly can be read in the
prophetic esoteric Christian tradition of the Revelation of John, as Goethe
himself admitted to Prince August von Gotha in a letter of December 1795.[8] As just noted, Steiner’s
tale “The Ring” also contains a prophecy – one concerning the future destiny of
the young girl: “My daughter will soon be placed back
into the life of the world.”

And who is the mysterious figure of “Marina”, who is said to narrate
the tale from the life of the author? Both Shakespeare’s Pericles and
Schiller’s Demetrius contain figures called Marina, and Steiner was also
occupied with Shakespeare and Schiller at this time. Thaisa – the mother of
Marina in Shakespeare’s drama – is also connected with the ancient Greek
mysteries – this time as a priestess of Diana/Artemis at Ephesus. – Could
Steiner’s female fairy-tale narrator be somehow inspired by these earlier
literary and cultural models?

Then there is the “magic ring” at the heart and in the title of the
tale. – It appears to recall other significant “ancient magical objects” in
spiritual history, such as Solomon’s magic and protective ring in the Jewish
mystery tradition, or even G.E. Lessing’s later ring parable – another author Steiner
was busy reading in the early 1880s.

Finally, the course of the events in the tale is guided by the
Goddess Fortuna – the Roman divinity of fortune or fate. Hence, the most
fruitful interpretations of this fairy-tale will no doubt be those that take
into account Steiner’s other autobiographical indications concerning his enlightenment
experiences for the period of the early 1880s. In this respect the protagonist
‘S’ in the fairy-tale says he received the ring sometime earlier: “I had just had a few years under my belt, where I was preparing my
spirit for something higher, living in earnest expectation of the time when I
was to be initiated into the deeper
secrets of science” (Ich hatte soeben die Jahre
hinter mir, in denen ich meinen Geist für höheres vorzubereiten hatte und lebte
in banger Erwartung auf die Zeit, in welcher ich
in die tieferen Geheimnisse der Wissenschaft eingeführt werden sollte). If this does indeed refer to a spiritual
event in Rudolf Steiner’s
own biography, then it seems to point to around the years 1879-1882, when
Steiner attended the Technical College in Vienna, just before starting his
editorial work on the natural-scientific writings of Goethe.

Here three later autobiographical accounts of Steiner immediately
spring to mind, and all similarly relate to initiation and esoteric experiences:

1). Rudolf Steiner’s Rosicrucian mystery dramas of
1910-1913, which artistically depict a small group of people pursuing the path
of initiation. In these mystery dramas we also find a small otherworldly
cottage – belonging to the couple Felix and Felicia Balde. The latter – like
Marina – just happens to be a teller of enigmatic fairy-tales. All the
characters in these Rosicrucian plays are dramatic metamorphoses of historical
people personally known to Steiner on the one hand, as well as transformations
of the figures in Goethe’s 1795 Fairy-Tale on the other. The character
of Felix Balde is based among others on the real-life Austrian herb-gatherer
Felix Koguski – a man Steiner met around 1879/1880, while Felicia Balde is likewise
inspired by a number of direct personal acquaintances of Steiner, and both are
metamorphoses of The Old Man with the Lamp and his Wife respectively from
Goethe’s Fairy-Tale.[9]

2). Rudolf Steiner’s long autobiographical lecture of
4 February 1913. There he directly evokes his “occult schooling” around the
years 1879-1882, after meeting the herb-gatherer Felix, in connection with the
works of the philosopher Fichte, and Goethe’s Faust and natural-scientific
writings.[10]
And like the 1884 fairy-tale “The Ring”, this 1913 autobiographical lecture is
likewise narrated in the unusual impersonal style of the third person.

3). The Course of My Life – Steiner’s
autobiography, published in the years 1923-1925. The first chapters tell of Steiner’s
early spiritual experiences. One episode in particular relates to the herb-gatherer
Felix, and it too refers to the years 1879-1882. Just like the two figures in
the 1884 fairy-tale discussing and walking in the “Schottengasse” in Vienna,
here we find Steiner again walking along another street in Vienna, the
“Alleegasse”, discussing spiritual topics with a person whom he calls an
“Initiate”. As we saw, this same Felix was the model for one of the main
characters in Steiner’s Rosicrucian mystery dramas.[11]

These four accounts – the 1884 fairy-tale and the other three texts
and autobiographical lecture mentioned above – seem to be deeply intertwined
with Rudolf Steiner’s own initiation and destiny. Just as with Goethe’s
Rosicrucian poem The Mysteries and Rosicrucian text the Fairy-Tale,
Steiner’s own early fairy-tale “The Ring” has countless echoes to many different
religions and mystery streams, including the Greek, Roman, Jewish, Buddhist and
esoteric Christian traditions. All these presentations immanently and
explicitly point to the years 1879-1882 as of great significance for the young Steiner’s
spiritual awakening. In Goethe’s Fairy-Tale, the most important
mysteries are the “open” ones. Similarly, Rudolf Steiner’s published autobiographical
fairy tale “The Ring” of 1884 presents innumerable open secrets or mysteries.

David W. Wood
is a university researcher in the history of philosophy. Some of his other
translations and writings can be found here:

[1] The full title of Steiner’s fairy tale in
German is: “Der Ring: Ein Sommermärchen von Rudolf Steiner. Aus des Verfassers
Leben mitgetheilt v. Marina.” I
would like to thank Professor Dr. Walter Kugler, Dr. David Marc Hoffmann, Dr.
Martina Maria Sam, and the Rudolf Steiner Archiv in Dornach, Switzerland, for
their kind help, including providing me with transcriptions of the original
German text and a photographic scan of the original 1884 Carlsburger
Wochenschrift. I am also grateful to Frank Thomas Smith for his feedback and
offer to publish this translation and afterword in the SouthernCrossReview.

[2] It was rediscovered by Lars Engelberger. A
copy of the original 1884 Carlsburger Wochenschrift can be found in the
National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary. A brief online report of the
rediscovery can be found here: http://rs150onair.blogspot.be.

[3] The full name of the publication organ is: Carlsburger
Wochenschrift: Organ für Unterhaltung, volkswirtschaftliche und kommunale
Interessen. It was edited
by August Behal, and published by Volz and Körner. The Carlsburger
Wochenschrift began publication in 1881 and ceased three years later in
1884. Steiner’s text appeared in two instalments in the issues of 10 and 17
August 1884.

[4] These appear to be the two brief essays: “Über das Verhältnis Thomas Seebecks zu Goethes
Farbenlehre” and “Hundert Jahre Zurück: Zur Farbenlehre”, updated and published by Steiner in the Chronik
des Wiener Goethe-Vereins, which was edited by Schröer, in the years 1886
and 1887 (cf. reprints in GA 30, pp. 477-479).